Tokens
by kepulver
Summary: [G1] Pipes gives Huffer a gift. Takes place sometime between end of Season 2 and The Movie.


**Tokens:**

"Huffer?" Pipes stepped into the storeroom, hearing his voice echo in the cavernous space. "You in here? Huffer?"

The reply came after a long pause, as if Huffer had considered lying through silence. "Yes," he said. "What is it, Pipes?"

"Nothing," Pipes said, walking down the aisles until he found what was commonly referred to as "Huffer's Sulking Corner" by nearly everyone, though only Gears was tactless enough to say it to Huffer's face. "Just wanted to see you," he said.

Huffer sighed, a long suffering sound that Pipes didn't remember hearing him make before arriving on Earth. "Why?" he said. "I just want to be a lone for a while, Pipes. Why is that so hard for everybody to respect?"

Pipes shrugged as best he could. "Dunno," he said. "I'm not gonna be here long, I just wanted to give you something." He paused, suddenly embarrassed. "I, uh, found it for you."

Huffer sighed again, explosively this time. "I'm not interested in any of your silly Earth gadgets," he said, barely keeping his anger in check. "I serve here because that's my duty and as much as I may hate it, I do my duty. I just want to forget about this world for a while, I don't want any reminders of it!"

"I know!" Pipes said, spreading his arms wide and putting them slightly behind him in a pacifying gesture -- essentially taking his cannons out of any range of fire that might be seen as a threat. "That's why I got you this!" Slowly, carefully he reached into a panel and pulled out a small sphere. Tentatively, he held his hand out, offering it to Huffer who picked it up and stared at it, wonderingly.

"It wasn't easy to find it," Pipes said, his voice wavering as he ramped up into his full explanation. "But, I did some checking when I was on Cybertron during that courier mission an' talked to Hubcap. He's really the one who managed to find it for me. I was worried I wouldn't have it before I came back but he ran into the spaceport at about the last astrosecond, so…"

"What is it?" Huffer asked, breaking into Pipes's explanation as he looked the sphere over. "We have holo-projectors here, I really don't see what difference having another one will make."

"It's not the projector, it's the data-disk inside." Pipes dropped his arms to his sides, shifting into a more comfortable standing position. "It's a holo-projection of Iacon's Crystal Gardens during the period that Facet's masterwork was on display. It pre-dates the start of the War by about 300 vorns, so it's over 50,000 vorns old. It was made during a twin moon rise and captures about a two orn period so you can see the gardens at all times of day which was actually part of the piece. I found an old data track about his work when I was researching this and he actually considered time to be part of the sculptor's art. It's really fascinating, I never knew there was any kind of art like this before --"

"_Pipes!_" Huffer held up a hand to try and stem the flow of words. "I know, I saw the piece when it was originally displayed. It's one of my favorite memories. How did you know?"

Pipes shrugged, his cab shifting with a nervous squeak. "You mentioned it a couple times," he said. "I…I just started doing some digging. It was easy, y'know?"

"No," Huffer said, shaking his head. "Pipes, I mentioned it a few thousand times. I've mentioned it so much Ratchet, _Ratchet_, threatened to deactivate my vocalizer if I mentioned it again." Huffer looked down at the projector in his hands. "I guess the better question is, why Pipes?"

"I..I thought it might make you feel better," Pipes said. "I mean, I don't remember a time before the war and you do and…I mean, we can't forget this kind of stuff, right?"

"No," Huffer said, quieter this time. "We shouldn't."

Pipes shrugged again. "Besides, it was fun looking for it," he said. "I never searched for anything on Cybertron -- I mean, except for looking for salvage and stuff like that." He paused. "Can I watch it with you?"

"You haven't seen it?"

"Just enough to make sure the tracks hadn't deteriorated," Pipes said. "I was kinda hoping you could help me understand it."

Huffer smiled, one of his rare, truly happy smiles. "I'd love to, Pipes," he said.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in a garden 4 million years in the past.


End file.
